


#2: Stirring The Dragon

by JunkMail



Series: A Better Victory [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Future AU, Gen, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 07:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17137166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JunkMail/pseuds/JunkMail
Summary: 'Taiyang had never really thought of himself as a particularly patient man. He had long understood that his nature tended towards thinking in the present, focusing on what was in front of him, and how best to move towards it.But when Qrow had contacted him, informing him with clipped words that the mission Ozpin had sent himself and Summer on had gone South, and that the woman he loved had been critically injured, he’d had to curb his instinctive urge to drop everything and leave immediately.'Two Huntresses rescue a woman meant to die, but the Universe is not so kind as to let them do so without consequences. The future is revealed, and the past changed.





	#2: Stirring The Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! (Or Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever else you might/might not celebrate.) Enjoy this 6,000 word exposition dump/angst fest.

**Stirring the Dragon**

**_“You're Yang Xiao-Long, my sunny little dragon. You can do whatever you put your mind to. So whenever you're ready to stop moping and get back out there, I'll be there for you.”_ ** **– Taiyang Xiao-Long**

* * *

Taiyang had never really thought of himself as a particularly patient man. He had long understood that his nature tended towards thinking in the present, focusing on what was in front of him, and how best to move towards it.

His old man had always commented on it being a Xiao-Long trait – something Tai’s semblance had only reinforced, in his opinion – and before he had passed away, his father had warned him that the Xiao-Long temper was a double edged sword, something to be tempered with a cool head.

But when Qrow had contacted him, informing him with clipped words that the mission Ozpin had sent himself and Summer on had gone South, and that the woman he loved had been critically injured, he’d had to curb his instinctive urge to drop everything and leave immediately.

Instead, he’d waited in agony on Patch long enough to secure a babysitter for Yang and Ruby, and the moment his two beautiful daughters were safely in his neighbours care, he’d been off to Beacon on the first available Bullhead.

The trip itself had taken five and a half hours, five and a half hours of crippling worry that’d had him wearing a line into the airship’s cargo hold, his mind conjuring every conceivable thing that could constitute ‘critical’.

By the time he’d arrived at Beacon, he’d managed to work himself up into an emotional storm that’d had his semblance visibly sparking gold-tinted energy across his forearms.

Safe to say, nobody had been courageous enough to stand in his way as he’d made a b-line straight for the school’s medical wing. The nurse on station at the help desk visibly weary of him as she’d confirmed who he was and who he was there to see.

Of course, the moment he’d entered a private medical room towards the back of the building – away from prying eyes and curious students – he’d spotted his lover, and everything else… stopped.

“Oh Oum, please no.” He whispered.

Laying on a wheeled hospital bed, Summer Rose looked impossibly still. The fact that she was wrapped in what looked to be an endless amount of bandages, so much so that she couldn’t even have a proper blanket laid over her, had him frozen in his tracks.

“Summer?” Tai called, tentatively. Some small part of him hoping against all odds that she was just sleeping, just resting. That everything wasn’t as bad as it looked.

But his lover didn’t answer, didn’t so much as twitch, and Taiyang found himself moving forwards. His voice rising as his vision blurred at the edges. “Summer!”

Someone moved in front of him, blocking his path forwards even as strong hands wrapped around his waist and chest from behind, and on pure battle-worn instinct his aura flared; golden light flaring against the cold blue hospital walls.

“Tai, please!” The woman in front of him pleaded, “You need to calm down!”

The hands holding him back didn’t budge, and on any other day Tai may have been impressed by that feat alone, but right now his anger was returning with vengeance and he really didn’t care who was on the receiving end of it.

“Calm down?” He raged, “You want me to calm down when the woman I love is crippled in a hospital bed?” Another thought occurred to him, and his anger switched gears accordingly. “Where the _hell_ is Qrow?! He was supposed to keep her safe! Protect her! _I’m going to rip that bastard in half!_ ”

Again, he tried to move past the woman in front of him, and again, whoever was holding him back succeeded in keeping him in place. On top of this, whoever was behind him was also radiating an absurd amount of heat; so much so that Taiyang felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of his face, despite the otherwise cool room temperature.

“Qrow is speaking with Ozpin.” The woman in front explained, and the twitch of something in her hair finally allowed him to see past his rage long enough to recognise the woman in front of him.

Tsune’s voice gained a cutting edge, “ _And_ _yes_ , I do expect you to be calm. Unless you want to exacerbate Summer’s condition and make things worse for her, I expect you to either keep your temper under control, or get the hell out of my medical wing.”

Staring at the faunus woman in front of him, Tai felt his anger drain away, getting abruptly replaced with a bone weary tiredness that would have had him collapsing then and there if not for whoever was holding him upright.

“I’m…” He swallowed, suddenly feeling both heartsick and woozy. “Okay, yeah. I… I’m done.”

Stepping forwards, Tsune and whoever was behind him helped to move him into a nearby chair situated next to Summer’s bed, and Tai found himself unable to tear his eyes off of her, even to thank the silent stranger who moved off the moment he was settled.

“Tsune?” He asked, still not looking away. “Give me the details. How bad is it?”

Shutting the privacy curtains, the doctor sighed as she moved to sit opposite and across the bed from him. It was only then that Tai noticed just how tired she looked, and while he wasn’t a professional doctor, he did know what someone with aura exhaustion looked like.

“It’s…” Tsune seemed to struggle for a moment, before her fox ears drooped and she slumped back in her seat. “Quite frankly it’s a miracle she alive at all, Tai.” She revealed, “She’s suffering from some kind of poisoning I’ve never seen before, alongside a concussion, severe Aura exhaustion and cardiogenic shock.”

Tai’s stomach plummeted, but Tsune just kept going.

“She has a fractured pelvis, a broken collar bone, three cracked and two broken ribs, and a three point fracture of her femoral shaft; she had a large puncture wound – and how she managed to avoid internal injuries I don’t know – on the right side of her stomach before I helped close it, and one of her lungs was almost punctured by a broken rib.”

Tsune sighed and rubbed a hand over her face, “She was also bleeding internally before she got an aura transfusion, and…”

She trailed off, and Tai found himself dreading what she could possibly say to make the situation worse than what she had already described.

But he had to know.

“And?” He quietly prompted.

“And… she has _major_ spinal damage.”

Nausea threatened his stomach, and Tai didn’t need a mirror to know his face had probably gone white. He had never seen Tsune look so serious before, so helpless, and that alone scared him.

“What kind of damage?”

“The permanent kind.” Tsune responded.

“You can’t fix it?”

Something truly painful crossed her features, “I’m sorry Tai, but the injury was caused _after_ Summer’s aura reserves were completely depleted, and while she got the transfusion almost immediately after receiving the initial injury… there was just too much damage everywhere else, her aura prioritised what it could fix, and once she was brought to me it was all I could do to repair enough of the damage to get her stable.”

Taiyang understood this, at least on an intellectual level. Tsune’s semblance allowed her to accelerate a person’s biological healing rate, which was great for everything from broken bones to simple cuts; but those types of injuries would also heal on their own, Tsune just sped the process up a good bit.

Permanent damage, such as spinal and brain damage, or injures like severed limbs, was something she could do very little about. Her ability to heal such injuries limited to traditional medicine and only what the mortal body could overcome.

“I am truly, truly sorry, Tai.” Tsune continued, her face contorted into one of sympathy and pain. “I did all I could, but the _catastrophic_ blunt force trauma to her Lumbar Vertebra means that she’ll be paralysed from below the waist, I doubt she’ll ever walk again.”

Tai didn’t really know how to process that. On an intellectual level he understood, but on an emotional one he… just couldn’t. His brain refused to accept what his colleague was telling him; all he could do was sit and blink, feeling as if someone had just punched him in the stomach. “Oh.”

Silence fell for a while, Tsune taking the momentary break in conversation in order to get up and get them cups of water from a nearby dispenser.

It was only as she pushed the paper cup into his hands that he regained any sort of proper awareness.

“Thank you.” He said, more on autopilot than with any real sincerity.

Tsune just nodded before returning to her own seat. The silence returning once more as the two of them watched the rise and fall of Summer’s chest, the steady beeping of a heart monitor the only other indicator she was still alive.

After a while, Tai managed to process enough of Tsune’s explanation for something to poke at his curiosity.

“Who gave the transfusion?” He asked, quietly.

“Hm?” Tsune hummed, one ear perking up.

“You said someone gave Summer their aura.” Tai elaborated, “But that’s not something just anyone can do, it takes years of intense training and aptitude to learn, and you implied that Summer got it before she was brought here. So who gave it?”

If they were still around, nearby somewhere, he was going to make a point of thanking them however he could. Tsune had made it pretty clear they’d probably saved his lover’s life.

Of course, if he hadn’t been paying such close attention to her, Tai probably wouldn’t have seen it, but Tsune gave a slight wince as she pondered the question.

“Ah. That… would be the other thing.”

Tai found himself blinking in confusion, “Other thing?”

Sighing in what might have been resignation, Tsune pulled herself to her feet. Her bushy red tail swishing through the air as she went through a set of stretches that Tai was pretty sure were just meant to stall for time.

After she had finished a full set of warm-up stretches, Tsune walked over to the privacy curtains that separated them from the rest of the room, and with one long pull, yanked aside the one separating Summer’s bed from the next.

For a moment Tai thought he was looking at a floor to ceiling mirror, before he realised that the seated blonde person opposite him was female and had hair that probably went all the way down to the base of her back when she was standing.

She also looked like a blonde and lilac eyed version of Raven.

“Sup.” The blonde version of Raven said, giving him a very not-Raven-like two fingered salute.

For a moment Taiyang didn’t know how to respond.

Then his brain kicked back into some semblance of a gear, and he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Who the hell are you?” He asked, feeling his frayed nerves rise.

The blonde not-Raven just grinned at him, rubbing the underside of her nose with a single finger. Tsune, however, just sighed in what sounded like defeat, before turning to explain.

“She and another… came in with Summer and Qrow. I had a brief word with Ozpin while Summer was being moved in for surgery, but he was pretty light on the details. Asked me to keep an eye on this one whilst Qrow and the other were debriefed.”

Tai stared. “What?”

The blonde snorted and rolled her eyes. “Oh sure, like it isn’t frickin’ obvious.”

Tai felt like he was missing a joke. Or maybe just the punchline.

“What?” He repeated.

“From what I understand,” Tsune continued, ignoring him and giving the blonde a warning glare. “They were heavily involved in extracting Summer and Qrow, and since she’s also refused my attempts to check her over for injuries, I really don’t want her going anywhere until I can confirm she won’t drop from aura exhaustion.”

“You’re injured?” Tai asked.

She didn’t look injured, the blonde practically looked ready to jump out of her chair, her left leg jittering in what appeared to be an entirely involuntary way.

With a gesture of her hand, the blonde waved off his concern. “Nah. Nothing serious.”

“Nothing visible,” Tsune countered. “But without a full examination I can’t be a hundred percent sure.”

Before the conversation could continue, the sound of a nearby door opening had all three of them turning towards the entrance, and a few moments later the curtain was swept aside to let Ozpin, Glynda, Qrow and someone wearing a red cloak through.

“Ah, Tai.” Ozpin speaks, his voice sounding slightly strained. “You made it, that’s… something, I suppose. Tsune, how is Summer doing?”

For her part, Tsune just groans and pinches her nose. “She’s stable, for whatever that’s worth, though no other real changes. I’ve already given Tai the rundown of her injuries.”

Moving to stand beside the young headmaster, Glynda grimaces. “I suppose that’s something.”

Ozpin gave a solemn nod in agreement, “Yes.”

However, before they could continue, they were distracted by the sounds of a scuffle, and everyone in the room turned to see the grinning blonde, who’d gotten up and joined the mystery woman by the nearby floor-to-ceiling windows, was currently struggling to hold the red-cloaked woman in a headlock.

Turning to Tsune, Ozpin give her a strained yet thankful smile.

“Thank you, Tsune. For everything.” He says, before stepping to one side. “You can leave us and get some rest now.”

Tsune rolled her eyes. “Alright, I get the hint.” She snipes, her tail gently flicking the headmaster as she passes him. “I suppose you guys have your super-secret stuff to talk about.”

Reaching the door, Tsune turns and points an aggressive finger at a small black button fixed to the wall above Summer’s head.

“That button on the wall is linked to my scroll.” She informs them all, “Any changes, good or bad, someone hit it.”

“Understood.” Ozpin said with a serious nod, with Glynda and Tai himself following suit a barely a moment later.

Watching as the doctor exited and the door slid shut behind her, Ozpin let out a tired sigh as he moved to take the chair Tsune had vacated. Glynda helpfully shifting it so that it faced all four of them, including the still struggling pair of women by the windows.

Seating himself, Ozpin let out a tired groan, “And as for you two… well. Where should we start?”

In an explosion of rose petals, the red-cloaked women disappeared from under the blondes arm, and Tai blinked in surprise as she reappeared moments later in another burst of red. Behind her, the blonde let out a startled curse as she overbalanced and toppled over.

The action had also caused the red woman’s hood to fall back, and Tai finally got his first look at the mystery woman. Long brunette hair falling free as she spun on the balls of her feet, a small smile on her face as she turned to look at the headmaster.

She too was almost painfully familiar, but where the other woman reminded him of a blonde and buff version of Raven, the brunette looked like an almost exact mirror image of Summer; The comparison made even more eerie by the fact that his lover was lying in a bed right next to him.

“Indeed.” Glynda stated dryly, pulling Tai back into the conversation.

“How about we start with names?” Qrow suggested, a light vail of sarcasm layering his voice.

The blonde snorted, “Seriously? I thought it would be pretty obvious.”

The brunette spoke up for the first time, and Tai felt his world tilt off balance when she did.

“Yang. Please let me handle this?”

“Yang?” Tai asked, confusion warring with his anger. “Wait. What the hell is going on here? Just who the hell are you two?”

There was a momentary silence where everyone seemed to suddenly remember he was in the room, and they all shuffle uncomfortably, before the woman who looked like his lover sighed and spoke.

“My name is Ruby Rose,” She stated, “And this is my sister; Yang Xiao-Long. We’re the daughters of Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao-Long. We’re from the future.”

Silence once again rained, and Tai could practically feel his brain stutter over the information, trying to make sense of what he had just heard. The not-so-subtle hints his subconscious had been throwing his way suddenly crashing into him with the force of a Beringel.

When several moments passed, and it appeared like he wasn’t about to say anything, Glynda cleared her throat.

“I think-”

Which is, of course, when his brain finally shunted him back into the driver’s seat. The words, “You’re lying” exiting his mouth of their own violation and leaving the entire room, once again, in silence.

Giving him an infuriatingly pity-laden look, Glynda spoke in a soft voice. “Tai…”

“No!” Tai cried out, “I don’t know what sort of game is getting played here, but this is fucking ridiculous!” Turning to glare at the two women daring to try and impersonate his daughters, Tai growled. “You’re not fooling me.” He said, pointing a finger. “So knock that crap off!”

“Tai,” Qrow interjected, stepping forwards in order to point at the brunette. “ _She’s_ practically a carbon copy of Summer.” Before his best friend turned to point at the blonde, “And _she_ looks like a blonde version of my sister!”

“Yes! Exactly.” Taiyang exclaimed, willing for everyone to wake up and realise what he had. “Yang _isn’t_ Summer’s biological daughter. Yet here they are, _both_ claiming to be her daughters!”

“Oh, I know.” The blonde interrupted with a snort, “Raven might have given birth to me, but she sure as shit ain’t my mother.”

“Yang, language.” The brunette gently scolded.

“Sorry, Rubes.”

Seeing both Glynda and Qrow weren’t listening to reason, Tai turned to the only other person in the room who wasn’t trying to endorse this farce.

“Ozpin, you can’t seriously be even considering this bullcrap?” He pleaded.

Except the headmaster only raised an eyebrow and gestured to the imposters.

“They’re speaking the truth.”

Tai blinked in surprise, momentarily overriding his anger with confusion.

“Oh, really?” He asked sardonically, “And how can you tell, oh wise wizard?”

“Tai!” Glynda called out, sounding appalled.

It was the brunette that replied, however. Her voice somehow pulling at everyone’s attention.

“ _Tempora mutantur et nos_ _mutamur in illis_.”

“I’m sorry?” Glynda asked, and Tai was glad he finally wasn’t the only one confused.

“ _‘Times are changing, and we are changing with them.’”_ Ozpin stated, “It’s a phrase from a long dead language. I am one of only two on Remnant who still know it.”

The brunette smiled, and Tai felt his anger rise at the sight of his lover’s smile on an imposter’s face.

“You had me memorise it before we left.” The brunette stated.

“I can’t believe you’re all falling for this!”

Glynda walked over and attempted to put a hand on his shoulder. “Tai, I know this could be difficult to understand…”

Shrugging off the hand and getting to his feet, Tai looked at his friends and comrades in disbelief.

“Difficult to understand?” He fumed, “I’m well aware there are things out there that defy human comprehension.” Turning, Tai pointed a finger at the two imposters. “But time travel? You’re expecting me to believe that you two are my daughters from the Oum-be-damned _future_?”

The one pretending to be Ruby winced. “Dad-”

Taking a threatening step forwards, Tai snarled. “Don’t you **dare** call me that!”

“Hey!” The blonde moved to stand in front of him, even as Qrow tried to place a restraining hand on his shoulder; Tai shrugged it off in order to face off with the imposter pretending to be his little firecracker.

“You think you’re tough?” Taiyang snarled, “Pretending to be my little girl?”

The blonde responded by grabbing a fist full of his jacket, heat projecting off of her in waves, and Taiyang replied in kind, gripping the collar of the brown leather armour she was wearing as golden sparks danced across his skin.

In the background, he could hear Glynda and Qrow protesting, but he didn’t care. He was done letting this farce continue.

“If you’re not going to believe us, fine!” The blonde growled, familiar lavender eyes flickering to a furious shade of red, while her long golden hair burst into hungry yellow flames. “ _But don’t_. _Shout_. _At_. **_Ruby_**.”

The heat radiating off of the woman doubled as she stared him down, and Tai felt himself pale. He knew this aura. He’d seen it unlocked earlier last year; like a warm ray of sunshine of a wet summer’s day.

“Your eyes.” He whispered.

“Let go of him.” Glynda stated, suddenly next to them and using her semblance to pry them apart. The blonde girl claiming to be his daughter letting go with a small huff of steam, and Tai was simply too stunned to keep his grip.

“I believe,” Ozpin stated, suddenly all stern authority as he stepped between them. “It would be best for all involved if we took a moment to calm ourselves.”

Turning to him, Ozpin gave a sympathetic look. “Tai, I understand you’re under a lot of pressure.” Ozpin gave a pointed glance towards Summer’s bed, and Tai found himself ashamed to realise he’d almost started a slugging match in front of her hospital bed. “But please, let us handle it?”

The glare the headmaster gave his possibly-from-the-future-daughter wasn’t anything as close to compassionate. “And as for you, Miss Xiao-Long. I would appreciate it if you didn’t set fire to my school.”

There was a beat of awkward silence, as everyone seemed to wait for someone to argue with the stern headmaster, before Glynda gently cleared her throat.

“So…” She stated with forced neutrality. “You’re from the future?”

“Yes.” Possibly-future-Ruby replied, “About… sixteen years from now.”

“Fascinating.” Glynda murmured, and Tai knew from experience that the deputy-headmistress would be grilling them from specifics later on.

However, Qrow interrupted her before she could ask another question.

“Try worrying.” He countered, sounding derisive. “Really, really worrying.”

From where she was standing opposite him, Glynda frowned. “Qrow?”

“Time travel…” Ozpin inserted, sounding strained. “Isn’t an easy feat.”

Qrow grunted, “You two didn’t come all this way back in time just to stress out Tai and say hi to your dear old uncle.”

Tai watched as Qrow reached into his jacket and pulled out a flask, his old teammate taking a swig before anyone could say anything. Tai noticed that at some point Qrow had embossed his logo onto the side of the container.

“We screwed up somewhere.” Qrow said as he swallowed heavily, “ _Somewhen_. **_Badly_**.”

From where they were situated, his maybe-grown-up-daughters shared a look, before maybe-Ruby sighed and nodded. “You’re… partly right.”

Ozpin looked as if a stiff breeze would knock him over, the old wizard leaning rather heavily on his cane, and Tai couldn’t ever remember seeing the man so visibly distressed; the usual masks of calm professionalism and quiet joviality nowhere to be seen.

“She… won, then?” Ozpin asked, quietly.

His maybe-daughter sighed as she walked over to and leaned back against the nearest wall, her tone turning just as sombre. “No.” She said, “No… She didn’t.”

“In our time,” The blonde stated. “Salem is dead.”

The atmosphere suddenly sharpened. The eyes of everyone in the room drawn to the blonde woman in a dividing mix of disbelief and hope. Tai forgot to breathe.

“You’re positive?” Glynda questioned, her voice sharp.

“Yes.” Ruby replied, subsequently drawing the room’s attention. “Yes, we are.”

Taiyang let out a sigh, and off to the side, he though Qrow might have muttered something akin to a prayer. Which made it all the more startling when it was Ozpin who shook his head in disbelief.

“That’s impossible.”

Standing beside him, Glynda stared at the headmaster in blatant surprise. Qrow too, seemed stunned by the old wizard’s statement.

But the brunette gave Ozpin a sad smile, something Tai didn’t understand passing between the two of them, before she leaned back and shook her head.

“I killed her myself.” She revealed.

There was a pause, then, as everyone took in that bit of information. Tai himself struggling to comprehend the statement.

“But… Jinn said that…” Ozpin stuttered, and Tai thought this was the first time he’d ever seen the normally unflappable headmaster well and truly speechless.

“You’re a good man, Ozpin.” The brunette interrupted him, “But you have an ego the size of Mount Glenn.” She smiled, “You always thought it was your destiny to destroy her.”

Leaning forwards, the red headed brunette gave a one shouldered shrug.

“Turns out it was mine.”

His little petal, somehow growing up to be someone so terrifyingly powerful enough to take out the literal Queen of Grimm? His Ruby? Who had laughed so hard last week she had almost passed out from oxygen deprivation, would one day kill Salem?

It seemed so utterly ludicrous as to border on impossible.

But then he remembered her silver eyes, and the power Summer could unleash with them. The times when his little girl would find and then focus on something she found incredibly interesting, and would refuse to go to bed or be distracted until she understood it, inside and out.

In that moment, Tai took a proper look at the two women in front of him. At the calm yet ready stance of the blonde, and the way the brunette kept her line of sight on the nearby windows. He also noticed the dark bags under their eyes and crow’s feet that made them look older than they probably were; the hard-won gleam of confidence in their eyes he remembered seeing in his father’s, and finally, he noticed the subtle scarring around the brunette’s left eye. Almost as if something had tried to… claw it out.

These two women, Tai realised, were battle-hardened. They looked experienced, in both the good and bad ways; and they looked tired, oh-so-familiarly tired of fighting against the world. They were Veteran Huntresses, in all their terrible glory.

There was the sound of a metal cap getting unscrewed, and Tai turned in time to watch Qrow take another long draw from his flask, before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Well then. If the Queen’s well an’ truly gone, why’re the two of you here?”

To his surprise, it was Ruby who scoffed. His future-daughter bringing up a hand to rub at the scarring on the left side of her face.

“Where to start?” She asked, somehow managing to sound both flippant and morose.

“We managed to kill Salem,” Yang elaborated. “But Remnant paid the price for it.”

“The Fall of Beacon. The destruction of the Haven and Shade Academies.” Ruby listed.

“The Remnants of the White Fang causing havoc in Vacuo.” Yang added.

“Yeah.” Ruby nodded, “And Atlas was still in the middle of its civil war when we left.”

Yang snorted, sounding derisive. “And let’s not forget about the Grimm.”

By Ozpin’s side, Glynda looked up in surprise. “The Grimm? They didn’t retreat with Salem’s death?”

“No.” Ruby stated, scratching at her chin with a chagrined look on her face. “No, they kinda did the opposite.”

“Without a Queen to command them, the Grimm… fractured.” Yang elaborated for them.

“Fractured?” Glynda asked, looking worried. “Fractured into what?”

“Smaller groups, mostly.” Ruby answered with a sigh. “The larger groups of the young ones generally began migrating towards Atlas or Vacuo, while the more ancient ones carved out their own territories and grabbed whatever cannon fodder they could control.”

Yang grinned as she moved to sit at the end of Ruby’s bed, something akin to pride entering her voice as she continued where her sister had left off.

“After we killed the huge-ass Drakon that made its nest here in Beacon after the Fall, me and Rubes ended up jumping from one kingdom to another in order to hunt down some of the bigger named ones.”

Ruby grimaced. “More than a few Named Grimm that had been content to stay at the furthest edges of Remnant – away from Salem’s rule – began to move in with her death. It wouldn’t have been an especially big problem for the Kingdoms to deal with, if they hadn’t been in such complete and utter disarray.”

“As it was,” Ruby said with a sigh. “Before we left, Vacuo was pretty much the only Kingdom with the Hunters necessary to protect their boarders. Vale, Vacuo and Atlas all suffered from successful attacks by one or more of Salem’s pawns that caused _catastrophic_ damage to their Hunter Communities.”

There was a brief moment of silence as they all took that information in, only broken when Qrow let out a tired sounding sigh. “Well… shit.”

With the silence broken, everyone in the room seemed to take a small breath, and Glynda made a noise of dismay.

“I… how?” She asked, sounding confused. “How could we let that happen?” She turned to look at the two future-Huntresses, both women looking sombre. “Where _were_ we? Any of us?”

“Dead, retired or preoccupied, mostly.” Was Yang’s blunt response.

Taiyang felt his stomach twist painfully at the implications. “Dead?”

Simultaneously, both of his future daughters turn to look at Summer’s unconscious form, and it didn’t take long for the rest of the room to realise why.

Qrow swore under his breath and took another swig of alcohol, and Tai felt his heart stop for a moment at the implication of just what had meant to happen to the woman he loved.

“The day you came home, Uncle?” Ruby spoke up, sounding pained. “And mom wasn’t with you? It’s still one of the most painful memories I’ve got.”

Tai felt his heart clench at the tone of voice his daughter had dropped to. Her silver eyes beginning to grow dull as she looked out the nearby window, staring off into the distance.

Taiyang knew that look. He’d seen it in the mirror when he let his mind drift to old memories, in Qrow’s eyes once or twice, when his brother-in-law thought he wasn’t watching; and he’d seen enough Hunter Vets back on Patch with similar looks as well.

Reliving the past, the painful memories that refuse to fade with time. Tai had no wish to see that look in his daughter’s eyes.

“But you’ve saved her.” He stated, looking to jar her out of it. “You stopped it from ever happening.”

He succeeded, at least temporarily. Her eyes refocusing as something fierce came over his daughter’s face, something proud.

“Yeah,” She said, straightening up slightly. “I have.”

“Wait,” Qrow interrupted, his voice slurred slightly. “Does that mean you two’re gonna, I dunno, disappear into thin air or somthin’?”

Yang huffed in what looked like amusement. “Nah. Apparently when we showed up here it creates a new branch… thing.”

Tai blinked. “Branch-thing?”

It was Ozpin who replied, his voice quiet.

“Time flows like a river,” He explained. “In the shape of an ever expanding tree of possibilities. When they travelled back here in time, they set forth a new branch of time. The old timeline still exists, and will continue to flow forwards, but we’ll now be headed in a new direction.”

Yang shrugged, “Like I said. Branch thing.”

Tai resisted the urge to snort, with Glynda sighing in the background as she attempted to get them back on track.

“Who else did we lose?” She asked, “You said some of us retired?”

Ruby sighed. “After mom… never came home, Dad retired from teaching at Signal to raise us full time, and Qrow semi-retired to take his place at the academy.”

“Apparently the Grimm or whatever picked off a few more of your eyes and ears over the next few years, Oz.” Yang added, “By the time we were starting Beacon, you were pretty much relying on Qrow, Glynda and Ironwood for everything.”

“And then after the Fall of Beacon and the loss of the Beacon CCT Tower,” Ruby continued. “Communication kinda got difficult between the kingdoms.”

“You mentioned that before.” Ozpin interjected, sounding pained. “Beacon really fell?”

“Yeah.” Yang said with a sigh, “In the next few years, Salem gets a new primary pawn, a power hungry bitch by the name of Cinder.” At Ruby’s reproachful look, Yang shrugged. “She managed to turn public opinion against you, Oz. Stole the Fall Maiden’s power out from under all your noses, and created a panic in Vale big enough to call forth a High Drakon that levelled the CCT tower here.”

There was a stunned silence, everyone looking at the two women in shock.

“And myself?” Ozpin asked.

Ruby grunted, “Cinder killed you after gaining the Fall Maiden’s powers.” She revealed, causing Glynda to curse under her breath. “We were lucky, really. You managed to reincarnate and meet up with Qrow and the rest of us at Haven a few months later.”

“Lucky, huh?” Qrow muttered, taking a final swig from his flask before Glynda snatched it out of his hands with a flick of her crop. His resulting complaints were ignored.

But Ruby’s eyes darkened, and she turned away to look out the nearby window.

“We got extremely lucky.” She said, her voice turning distant. “More than once, and in more ways than I could hope to count.”

Silence once again rained, and for a while everyone seemed content to sit or stand quietly while they processed everything that had been said. Qrow moving to take Ozpin’s abandoned chair as Taiyang watched his two apparent future-daughters, the two women huddling together as they dealt with the emotions their story had brought up.

The quiet was eventually disrupted when Tsune reappeared. Beacon’s resident healer giving all of them unreadable looks before moving to check on Summer’s condition.

“This…” Ozpin finally spoke up, still looking slightly faint. “Bares some serious thought.”

“Miss Rose, Miss Xiao-Long.” He continued, “I am afraid I’m going to need a comprehensive report and debrief. Anything and everything you know is vital.”

From where she was standing, Ruby gave the headmaster a serious nod. “I’ll get right on it.”

“No.” Ozpin abruptly countered, looking out the window to the darkening sky. The sun just barely still peaking over the top of Mount Glenn’s peak. “It’s gotten far too late for this sort of thing. Rest. You can write up a report in the morning, we’ll discuss this more at length tomorrow.”

Walking over to stand next to Ozpin, Glynda nodded in agreement. “You’re more than welcome to any of the Guest Rooms in the Staff Wing.”

“If it’s alright with you, Professors?” Ruby asked, looking towards Tai himself and Summer’s sleeping form. “I think we would prefer to sleep here for now.”

Ozpin, and subsequently everyone else, turned and looked at him in askance. Although Tai found that he didn’t really want his two grownup and from-the-future daughters going anywhere either, and subsequently gave a small nod of agreement.

In the corner, Qrow gave a small groan and shifted in his chair, having apparently passed out at some point when no one was watching.

“Then it’s settled.” Ozpin stated, moving towards the door; Glynda following after him a few moments later. “Miss Rose, Miss Goodwitch can bring you a data-slate in the morning. Until then, rest.” The headmaster gave the two women a tired smile.

“You are safe here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this chapter mostly finished since early November, but due to Uni deadlines I didn't have the time to sit down and finish editing it until now, so consider it an end-of-year gift!
> 
> On a side note, I've got a question for those of you who are interested in the backstories of future-Ruby and future-Yang.  
> When making these kind of stories, I like to make info-docs in the format of Intelligence Reports, containing all the relevant character information and history for each important character.  
> These Reports contain things like Historical Summaries and technical notes of weapons/semblances/appearances/etc.  
> Would anyone be interested in seeing these? Because if so, I could stick them up as side-documentation for you-guys to read.  
> Let me know in the comments!


End file.
